afterward edited the _Independent Balance_.

The _Trangram, or Fashionable Trifler_, by "Christopher Crag, Esq., his
Grandmother and Uncle," was published in Philadelphia by George E. Blake
in 1809. It foreshadowed its wit and its satire in its introductory
parody of _Macbeth_:

"How now, ye cunning, sharp and secret wags,
What is't ye do?
A deed with a double name."

In the first number was an address by "The Publisher to the
Purchaser.... The conductors of this paper, being a kind of whimsical
and negligent gentry of easy habits and inconstant disposition, its
continuation will not so much depend upon the patronage that may be
given to it as upon their own humours and caprices. It is, as Johnson
says of its title--'Trangram--an odd, intricately-contrived thing,' and,
therefore, in its appearance will be as irregular in its size or
proportions as unequal, and in its pecuniary value as unstated, though
always as reasonable, as any other oddly-contrived thing ever was, or
is, or ought to be." The publisher, George Blake, was a Yorkshireman and
a music dealer in South Fifth Street. He told William Duane that the
editors were Mordecai M. Noah, Alexander F. Coxe, a son of Tench Coxe,
and in 1814 a member of the bar, and a third person "whose name he
seemed unwilling to mention" (Duane). Only three numbers were printed,
the triple team quarrelled, and the publication ceased.

Mordecai Noah was born in Philadelphia, July 14, 1785. After his removal
to New York, about 1816, he became the owner or editor of a number of
magazines and newspapers.

The _Trangram_ is full of local gossip and scandal cleverly concealed.
Andrew Hamilton figures in it as "Dapper Dumpling." J. N. Barker, the
author of "Superstition," is "Billy Mushroom." Joseph Dennie is
nicknamed "Oliver Crank." William Warren is dubbed "the tun-bellied
manager."

The account of a walk through the city streets ends with "the
description of the defence of his friend would doubtless have continued
until we reached the end of our journey had we not by this time arrived,
where mathematicians never could arrive, at the Square Circle,"--that
is, at Centre Square, Broad and Market Streets.

The third number, February 1, 1810, contains accounts of "Jeremy
Corsica" (Jerome Bonaparte) and his visit to Philadelphia, and to
"Bangilore" (Baltimore), and his acquaintance with Miss "Cornelia
Pattypan," or Patterson.

The _Beacon, erected and supported by Lucidan